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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27761626">The Classics</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/deltatime/pseuds/deltatime'>deltatime</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>At The Edges of a Canyon [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargate SG-1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bi!Daniel, Jack has a bit of a gay panic, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:06:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,015</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27761626</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/deltatime/pseuds/deltatime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Team movie night takes a turn for the kind-of-weird when Jack realizes he's maybe not as straight as previously thought.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>At The Edges of a Canyon [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2133246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>65</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Classics</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This wasn't supposed to get quite as angsty as it did, but here we are.</p><p>Rated for not-so-healthy drinking and some swearing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They watched two types of movies during team nights: classics and comedies. A <i>classic</i> was any film Teal'c missed a reference to, or that they all agreed was essential to the Earth experience. <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> was the first classic they watched. A <i>comedy</i> was anything that made one or more of them scream because of the factual inaccuracies pertaining to their field. Daniel had gotten up and left halfway through <i>Indiana Jones</i>, which Jack considered one of his proudest moments.</p><p>Since the establishment of team night, they had watched the original <i>Star Wars</i> trilogy (bridging the gap between the two categories), <i>The Fellowship Of The Ring</i> (classic), and <i>Dune</i> (comedy). <i>Dune</i> was a massive mistake; it was bad enough that they had to sit through maybe the worst movie of all time, but to make matters worse Teal'c had honest-to-God enjoyed it.</p><p>It had been long enough since the <i>Temple of Doom</i> disaster/miracle that Jack thought he could get away with an archaeology comedy. He was hoping for <i>Lara Croft</i> but the Blockbuster shelf was empty where the tape should have been. <i>The Mummy</i> would be a decent runner-up, he thought, and grabbed that instead.</p><p>As it turned out, it was more than a decent runner-up. Jack doubted anyone would call it a <i>good movie</i> but it sure was fun, even though it didn't irritate Daniel as much as he'd hoped.</p><p>"Two-and-a-half stars," Jack declared as he got up to rewind the tape.</p><p>"There were many factual inaccuracies," Teal'c said.</p><p>"Not as bad as <i>Indiana Jones,</i> though," Daniel added. Teal'c inclined his head, probably in agreement.</p><p>"If you think of it as a horror movie spoof, it's actually pretty good," said Sam.</p><p>"Come on, don't take it so seriously! It's fun! Plenty of gore, plenty of action, plenty of eye candy," Jack said. "Rachel Weisz is the star but Brendan Fraser has his moments."</p><p>"How very heterosexual of you, Jack," Daniel said sarcastically.</p><p>"For crying -- just <i>saying</i> that a man is attractive doesn't make me <i>gay</i>!" The VCR clicked and Jack hit the eject button with maybe more force than was strictly necessary. "Teal'c, if Brendan Fraser came up to you in a bar would you turn him down?"</p><p>"I would, O'Neill."</p><p>"Fine, maybe it's different for Jaffa. You wouldn't kick Rachel Weisz out of bed, would you, Carter?"</p><p>"Coming a little close to <i>asking,</i> there, Jack," Daniel interjected.</p><p>"As politely as possible, but yes, I would," Sam said.</p><p>"Different for women, too. Daniel. You cannot tell me that you don't find Mr. Fraser here even a little attractive."</p><p>"Well, you're right, I can't tell you that."</p><p>"See?!" Jack crowed and took a celebratory swallow of beer.</p><p>"I also can't tell you I'm straight, though."</p><p>Beer did not belong in Jack's sinuses.</p><p>"You - what - ?" Jack managed to get out between coughs.</p><p>"You didn't know?" Sam laughed.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, hilarious," Jack scowled. "<i>Does it look like I knew?</i>" He coughed again. "<i>You</i> knew?!"</p><p>"I knew as well," Teal'c said.</p><p>"And Major Davis, and Siler, and all of SG-19, and anyone else with a reasonably functional gaydar, probably," Daniel added. He was blushing faintly.</p><p>"I ran into him on a date in Denver, and I totally wouldn't have made the connection but - " Sam started.</p><p>"You told me 'see you Monday, have a good night' and the guy <i>winked</i> at you and said 'I plan to,'" Daniel finished. "He didn't."</p><p>"Major Davis?" Jack asked incredulously.</p><p>"He thought he caught me checking out his ass - I really wasn't, I was just staring and it happened to be at him - and invited me back to his hotel room. Probably would have been easier to tell him I was straight instead of 'I don't do casual,' but - " Daniel broke off, realizing too late that Davis had a little more to lose if the wrong people found out about that story. "Allegedly."</p><p>"Don't worry about it, Major Davis is the worst-kept secret in the Air Force," Sam told him.</p><p>"<i>Major Davis?!</i>" Jack repeated.</p><p>Sam's eyes widened. "Allegedly," she added weakly.</p><p>"I have a perfectly fine gaydar, and he has never-not-once seemed like anything but straight," Jack complained.</p><p>"Doesn't seem perfectly fine if you didn't pick up on <i>you,</i>" Daniel said quietly.</p><p>"Now you wait just a minute, I am <i>not</i> gay! I was married! I'm attracted to women!"</p><p>"No one's saying you aren't. I'm just saying, there's a lot of space between totally, hundred-percent gay and totally, hundred-percent straight."</p><p>"Among Jaffa, same-gender relationships are not uncommon."</p><p>Suddenly the mood of the room shifted from lighthearted teasing to bordering on a Serious Conversation. Sam and Daniel shared a look and had a whole nonverbal conversation: you need to fix this - there's nothing to fix because there's nothing wrong - of course, there's something wrong you idiot - not being straight is not wrong - finding out that your best friend is not straight and then immediately finding our that <i>you're</i> not straight is pulling more Gs than the average fighter pilot - okay I guess you're right fine I'll talk to him.</p><p>"Anyway. Let me help you clean up," Sam said in her best <i>this is not a problem</i> tone, long honed by years on SG-1. She collected the popcorn bowls and went to the kitchen to play dishwasher Tetris with them and the pizza plates.</p><p>The whole team did their damned best to act like they had just watched an enjoyable movie, nothing more and nothing less. They set Jack's living room back to rights, then put their coats on and walked out into the chilly October night to say goodbye.</p><p>Sam was grateful that luck had delayed her and Teal'c's arrival to team night, so her car was the last one in. She hugged Jack and Daniel, told them good night, and left to take Teal'c back to the mountain.</p><p>Daniel didn't leave. He stood side-by-side with Jack on the porch in his jacket, hands shoved deep in his pockets. They watched Sam's car until she turned a corner and disappeared into the night.</p><p>"So," Daniel said quietly. "Maybe we had a little too much to drink."</p><p>Jack's mouth twitched up. A lame excuse and Daniel knew it just as well as Jack did. They'd all been sober enough to drive, all night.</p><p>"Maybe," Jack allowed.</p><p>"We don't have to talk about it."</p><p>Jack turned and went back inside. Daniel stood on the porch a moment longer, trying to decide what the hell kind of response <i>that</i> was. He realized he'd left his keys on Jack's coffee table and the decision to stay or go was made for him. He turned; Jack had left the door open. Daniel shut it behind him when he entered.</p><p>Jack was in the kitchen pouring himself a whiskey. "When did you know?" he asked.</p><p>Daniel hesitated. When did he know <i>what?</i> He answered the most obvious question. "I had a crush on my best friend when I was thirteen. I told her about it, she told me she didn't like me but she wished she did, then she had to explain what a lesbian was to me. I guess something clicked for me then. It was a while before it was anything more than... academic."</p><p>Jack, to his credit, didn't ask about the <i>anything more</i>. He took a sip of whiskey, then knocked the whole glass back and poured another.</p><p>"You're not fucked up or anything," Daniel said hesitantly. He was usually pretty good at reading people, but the whole last hour had him off balance. "You wouldn't tell me I'm fucked up. I hope."</p><p>"No, I wouldn't. What kinda guy do you think I am?" Jack said tightly. Daniel let him stand in silence for a while. "Just. A lot of things that didn't make much sense before make a whole lot more sense now."</p><p>Now it was Daniel's turn to not ask the uncomfortable questions. He pretended not to notice Jack's challenging sideways glance: <i>go ahead, ask, I dare you.</i></p><p>"I don't know what to say to you." When Daniel thought about it, this wasn't the first time he'd had basically this same conversation - but it was the first time with someone who was way too old for this to be the first realization. "If you just want to drink to forget, I'm not gonna stop you."</p><p>Jack scoffed. "Much as I'd like to, I don't think that's happening." He drank anyway. "I don't know what to say to <i>you.</i>"</p><p>Daniel shrugged. "The other times people have come out to me - " Jack's eyebrows shot up (<i>how many times has this happened</i>) " - I've said either congratulations or 'sorry, not interested.'" Some emotion Daniel couldn't quite describe flickered across Jack's face. "Neither seems quite appropriate right now."</p><p>"Because I don't seem happy enough to congratulate, or because you're interested?" The whiskey had made Jack bold.</p><p>"Not to put too fine a point on it." There wasn't a good answer to that question. What was Daniel supposed to say? The truth - that of course both things were true - was right out. "You seem like I should be saying <i>I'm sorry</i>." For half a second their eyes met, and Daniel hoped to God that Jack would extrapolate the second half of his answer by himself.</p><p>The whiskey glass clicked on the counter as Jack put it down. The older man leaned on the granite, looking every inch the picture of a man in a middle-aged gay panic.</p><p>"Are you interested?"</p><p>Fuck.</p><p>"Don't ask me that." Daniel knew full well that was an answer in and of itself.</p><p>"I think I am."</p><p>"You think you're interested, or you think you're asking?"</p><p>"I don't know."</p><p>Daniel felt like he was watching Jack drown, but he had nothing to throw and the only thing left to do was jump in after him.</p><p>"If I didn't know better, and clearly I didn't, I would have thought you'd been interested for a long time," he said. "With anyone else I'd say we'd been flirting on and off for years."</p><p>Jack's head whipped around. That struck a nerve.</p><p>"I wasn't!"</p><p>"Were. You remember when you pushed my glasses up for me in the elevator, before the whole thing with the Tobin system? Jacob told me to be careful after that. <i>Jacob.</i> And not for any of the normal reasons I should be careful."</p><p>Jack stared back at the counter. He did remember, and Daniel could see the gears turning in his head, reframing the interaction with new information.</p><p>"Sorry for leading you on," he said.</p><p>Daniel shrugged.</p><p>"I guess the first one," Jack said after a while. Daniel replayed the last few minutes of conversation, trying to find an antecedent.</p><p>"I guess me too."</p><p>There it was. They'd been carefully playing cards for either half an hour or five years, depending on how you counted, and now everything was on the table.</p><p>"Doesn't have to change anything," Daniel said carefully. He knew it was a lie. So did Jack.</p><p>"I wish you were right."</p><p>Daniel played out all the ways this could go, and more importantly, all the ways it could end. He said nothing because he was sure Jack was going through the same scenarios.</p><p>"I should go," Daniel said after a while. Jack drank the rest of his whiskey and put the glass in the sink.</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>Daniel walked slowly to the door, then realized he still somehow didn't have his keys and had to go back to the living room to find them. Jack hadn't left the kitchen. Daniel jangled his keys as loudly as he could manage (<i>I'm going, you don't have to say anything, it's okay</i>) and went back to the door. He stood with his hand on the doorknob for a long time, trying to find something to say.</p><p>There wasn't anything to say.</p><p>He left and locked up after himself with the house key they all had a copy of. He sat in the driver's seat of his car for a while before he started the engine. Jack's lights were still on when he turned the corner.</p>
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